Download YouTube Videos With Subtitles

Captions make a video easier to follow, quote, or study — especially for language learning or noisy rooms. VidLoader lets you choose a subtitle language right on the Add screen so the captions come down with your video instead of being lost. This guide shows exactly where that option lives.

Why download captions with the video?

Captions are far more than an accessibility nicety. If you're studying a language, subtitles let you read along and check words you missed. If you're taking notes from a lecture or tutorial, having the text on screen makes it easy to pause and copy a phrase. And in a quiet room — a library, a late night, a shared space — captions let you follow along with the sound off. Keeping the subtitle file next to the video means those captions travel with the download instead of being stuck on the website you got it from.

What you'll need

• The VidLoader desktop app (free to download) — get it at vidloader.com
• A YouTube link for a video that offers captions
• The subtitle language you want

Step 1 — Paste the link and choose a subtitle language

Click Add, paste your YouTube link, and look for the Subtitles dropdown below the format buttons. Leave it on Use app settings to follow your default, or pick a specific language such as English. VidLoader shows a preview card so you can confirm the video first.

Keep the format on Video (MP4) — subtitles are saved next to the video, so audio-only downloads skip them.

Step 2 — Download and track progress

Press Download and open the Queue tab. You'll see the usual progress bar with speed and time remaining while VidLoader fetches both the video and its caption track.

Step 3 — Play it back with captions

The finished video appears in your Clips library. Play it inside VidLoader or open the folder to find the video and its subtitle file together, ready for any player that supports captions.

Good to know about subtitles

Subtitle availability depends entirely on the video. Some creators upload professional caption files in several languages; others rely on YouTube's automatic captions, which are convenient but occasionally miss a word or misread an accent. When you open the Subtitles dropdown, you'll only see the languages that video actually offers — if the list is empty, that video simply doesn't have captions to save. It's also worth knowing that VidLoader keeps the captions as a separate file rather than burning them into the picture, which means you can turn them on or off in your player and even edit the text if you spot a mistake. For studying, that separation is a real advantage. One more practical tip: if you're comparing translations, download the same video twice with two different subtitle languages selected, and you'll have both caption files to study side by side. Teachers and tutors find this especially useful for building offline lesson material that doesn't depend on a live connection in the classroom.

Tips for better downloads

• Auto-save subtitles in your preferred language on every download — a VidLoader Plus feature ($9.99/month or $79.99/year, 3-day free trial).
• No captions offered? Only videos that already have subtitles on YouTube can be saved with them — VidLoader doesn't invent captions.
• Learning a language? Download the same clip in two subtitle languages and compare.
• Need the plain video too? The core steps are the same as our YouTube download guide.

Frequently asked questions

Will the subtitles be burned into the video? No. VidLoader saves the captions as a separate subtitle file next to the video, so you can toggle them on or off in your player.

Can I choose auto-generated captions? If YouTube offers automatic captions for that language, they'll appear in the dropdown. Availability depends on the video.

Does this work for other sites? The Subtitles option appears whenever the source provides captions, not only YouTube.

Download VidLoader

Captions included, no extra tools required. Download VidLoader — it's a free download for Windows, macOS, and Linux.